The hidden costs of high rates and mortgage debt

Official figures suggest the Irish economy is driving on all cylinders but a look under the bonnet reveals a less reassuring picture in which higher-than-necessary interest rates and huge mortgage debt is holding back the potential of Irish SMEs and households.

By any measure the jobless rate has dropped sharply from over 15% at the peak of the banking and property crisis almost six years ago. After edging up in the month, the jobless rate currently stands at 6.4%, meaning that there are 141,100 people unemployed when seasonal factors are taken into account.

The monthly figures can only tell us part of the story, of course, and other factors that weigh on joblessness and employment, such as inward and outward migration, can only be guessed at.